Title Deeds problem - Tennents in Common

Nickyanderson38 · 24 March 2022 at 10:23AM

Hi there ,

Sadly my father passed away and I was his sole beneficiary in his will and executor of his will. I completed the probate then went through the procedure of carrying out his wishes. He owned a third share in a commercial property with a title deed showing A Tennents In Common Restriction notice on there, however the property also has a current mortgage which is this where my problems began .
I instructed a solicitor to originally transfer my name from my dads to mine , however because there’s a mortgage I couldn’t place my name on the deeds. The advise the solicitor gave me was to leave my fathers name on the deed and I would be protected and the link would be will my dads Will etc..
however I thought it was it was left my the solicitor as just this… I had the shock of my life when I checked the title deeds a whole year on and my dads name has been removed from the title which means my inheritance has just vanished.

The solicitor had completed a DJP deceased joint proprietor form which took my dads name off the deeds and this lead to the other two names proprietors now have a 50% share each and as it stands my share has now disappeared. Unfortunately I’m estranged from the other two proprietors as they are both family members so it definitely smells of a rat.. my solicitor in this case certainly wasn’t working on my instructions and in effect she has given my third share away.

im currently awaiting a response from the partners of the firm and I’ve also written to the land registry .. I’m hoping and praying this will be resolved .!!!

However this isn’t right and it’s caused a great deal of stress on my part .. the question is , is this classed as fraudulent or negligence? All the information found out on this matter was done by myself. I had to learn the difference between Tennents in common and joint tenancy along with the restrictions meanings etc but I have not read how a solicitor can get it so wrong.

Had everyone had this issue?

Has anyone had any form of compensation for the negligence and potential loss I may be facing as the property is valued currently at £350,000 which should be spilt 3 ways.

Any help or advice would be very much appreciated. I thank you all in advance

Land_Registry · 25 March 2022 at 10:09AM

Updating the register re the sad death is a factual act. Doing so does not cause you to lose anything re your beneficial share.

What the solicitor was probably trying to explain was that whilst the legal ownership passed to the surviving joint owners your beneficial share was still protected by the will/trust and the form A restriction (often applied for by tenants in common) was on the register.

So your share still exists but you need to identify how and when it can be realised. That means legal advice as well as tracking down the surviving owners to ensure that your beneficial share/position is understood and acknowledged.

You should only lose your share if you let it go. Nobody else appears to have lost it or taken it from you.